Quick response I got to a prompt on tumblr. I am in the mood to write something a bit different and from a perspective I don't hit that often. This is kind of Calzona/Kepzona friendship in Arizona's perspective. Set sometime in Season 11. P.S. Working hard on the Breakeven update and I promise it's coming soon! Also, full disclaimer, Google told me all the chicken stuff. I know squat about farms. Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think.
"Bock bock bock!"
Sofia giggled happily, flapping her elbows like wings and carefully following three skittish hens around the small disaster of a backyard pen. It was a mess of feathers, bird poop and spilled chicken feed.
"Careful, baby girl," Callie called as the child's shoes came dangerously close to a pile of droppings. "Poo poo is yucky."
The chickens, Red, Young Yellah, and Queen Bee grew even more agitated and continued their frantic circles around their pen area. Sofia paused, deftly avoiding the droppings and waving her arms wildly over hens causing them to scatter towards the edges of the pen.
"Don't scare them, Sofia," Arizona advised. "Be gentle..."
Her mothers stood uncomfortably at the gate, waiting for their heavily pregnant (and subsequently slower) co-worker to make the short journey from the back porch to the newly constructed pen.
Blinking in dismay as the chickens freaked out again, Arizona shook her head. "I have no idea why I thought this would be a good idea. What did I say?"
"You said you had a weird thing for chickens..." Callie supplied, eyes narrowing as she tracked their daughter's behavior in the presence of the newly acquired birds. She tilted her head to one side, "They are kinda cute though and just look at Sof...she's so excited."
Arizona glanced at her wife and shrugged in grudging agreement. As much as they might have under estimated how many eggs the three hens could produce, and how difficult it was to care for their three new animal charges, she had to agree that the hens were weirdly charming and that they'd sparked an enthusiastic interest in all things nature in her little girl.
It was beautiful to see.
The only problem was that Arizona and Callie didn't know the first thing about taking care of chickens, and the instructions they'd gotten off the internet at the time of purchase weren't exactly cutting it.
April Kepner reached the pen's gate, stepping into the space between her Callie and Arizona and leaning forward slightly. She rested her hands on top of her rounded belly, eyes wide as she surveyed the scene in front of her.
"Oh my goodness," she commented. "You guys really did it."
Callie wrinkled her nose and nodded, "Yes...yes we did."
"We bought chickens..." Arizona sighed.
Kepner turned to her and threw her hands into the air, fingers splayed, grinning in unexpected excitement, "You got chickens! That's so cool!"
Exchanging a puzzled expression with her wife over the red head's shoulder, Arizona smiled and nodded as she allowed her friend to ramble. Callie shrugged.
April kept talking.
"Good for you two, taking the plunge. Urban farming is a lot easier than it sounds these days, and not just because of the eggs! It's so good for the environment. And so great for Sofia too. Look how comfortable with them she already is? I mean, she could be on her way to being a star in 4H! You know, I've been trying to convince Jackson to-"
Arizona knew she was still getting used to being friends with April.
When the trauma surgeon was a resident, it seemed like she'd spent more rotations with Callie than in peds. And when April had worked in peds, she'd invariably ended up shadowing Stark and not Arizona. Then again, she'd put a lot of effort and concentration into working with her protegee Alex Karev, so maybe that was a function of availability more than anything else.
And April had managed to become a more than capable surgeon without much help from Arizona.
She'd always known April to be a little over eager, annoying at times, and incredibly naive. Add all that to the whole Jesus thing, and you had to figure it amounted to being a judgmental, neurotic, bible thumper. The kind of person on military bases in different parts of the country who Arizona had learned to avoid while coming of age and coming out as gay.
For a long time, a part of her had feared that April saw her the same way those people did so many years ago.
But, when Arizona herself had made the worst mistake of her life, cheating on Callie, April turned out to be the only one who reached out and made her feel like she wasn't a horrible person, undeserving of any compassion. Kepner had been kind to her, and after drunk bonding at the Grey Sloan Memorial fundraising gala, over the past year or so Arizona and April had been forging a close friendship.
They had their ups and downs of course, and there were moments when April totally got on her nerves and Arizona was pretty sure she wasn't always being that great of a friend to the cheerful surgeon, but overall it was nice. It was nice to have a confidant at the hospital who shared her peppy, perkier disposition, as well as a healthy appreciation for all things pink and pretty. After the plane crash, it was hard for Arizona to cultivate a new self, a new amputee version of herself, and April helped her to remember the lighter parts of herself that could have been so easily lost in her long recovery.
"Yeah well," Callie interjected as April was in the middle of explaining how Jackson preferred to concentrate on preparing for their soon to arrive baby, rather than livestock."We bought chickens, but it's kind of turning out to be a disaster."
Arizona nodded in agreement, "We're feeling a bit in over our heads...and, well knowing your background and where you grew up, April, we thought you might be able to share a few tips."
"Well, sure! Of course!" the redhead agreed instantly before growing quiet. April's expression frowned slightly, "How long have you had them for?"
"Uhhh," Callie fumbled, trying to get a clear line of sight on how many fingers her wife was holding up as Arizona struggled to find an acceptably low number for them to fib about.
"Ummm," she echoed, finally holding up her fingers. "Three...or four..."
Callie shrugged, "Or five..."
"Six," Arizona interjected softly, letting her fingers fall as she decided to just come clean with the truth.
April's face fell even more.
"That long? Why didn't you ask me sooner? I would have helped you right from the beginning..."
Ah, but that was the thing.
Another instance in which Arizona found it occasionally hard to be friends with April Kepner. Not that this particular difficulty was really anyone's fault. Sometimes, it was hard to handle being around a pregnant Kepner because it reminded both Callie and Arizona so painfully of what they couldn't do (one way or another). And though they were looking into surrogacy, their issues as a couple and the therapy they needed to resolve those problems meant that they probably wouldn't be welcoming a new bundle of joy into this house any time soon.
So...irrational as it was, sometimes it was hard to be around April.
Not that it was entirely fair to Kepner to have her so called friends distance from her, just because she was getting something Callie and Arizona both desperately wanted.
Arizona frowned and ducked her head, trying to hide her guilt.
"Because we really didn't know anything about chickens," Callie recovered quickly, and somehow finding a way to explain their secrecy to Kepner in a way that spared her feelings.
"We got all this on the internet," she continued bluffing masterfully, gesturing toward the entire hen pen. "Everything from the chickens to the feed to the wire. And some people online said being around chickens was bad for pregnant women. We don't want you or tiny in there to get sick..."
Arizona's lips curled into a small smile. She loved her wife. Sometimes Callie was short with April, but the more she grew to understand just how much the younger woman's friendship meant to Arizona, she'd made a conscious effort to bond with Kepner as well.
Even though they both kind of hated when April arranged double dates for them with both herself and Jackson. Avery outside of work was only slightly less irritating than he was inside.
But they both put up with it, in the interest of friendship, because you really can't choose who your friends get married to and hurting Kepner's feelings was the last thing Callie and Arizona really wanted to do.
Sometimes you just had to suck it up.
Less suspicious of them, April rolled her eyes and made a face, "What? That's not true! It's the same as being around any animal. I will take extra care while I am in the pen and make sure to wash my hands thoroughly when we're finished. I mean, really? If people think farming women just stop taking care of their animals anytime they add a new member to the family? That's just wrong! I mean, if my mother had stopped helping out on the farm every time she was pregnant with one of us we'd-"
"Okay, right!" Callie cut in, holding her hands up in a placating gesture to halt April's rant. "See? Now, we know that. You know about this stuff, you can...you can help us with all of this..."
Lacing her fingers through the chicken wire, April grew silent, surveying the chaos of the chicken coop carefully. Taking in the spilled feed, the crocked wire, and the clucking birds with pensive intensity.
Sofia turned and waved, "Hi, April!"
"Hey, Sofia," the trauma surgeon replied, surprising Callie and Arizona again by opening the gate to the pen and striding in to join the little girl. April stood next to the child and peered down at the three agitated hens, "Are these your chickens, Sofia?"
"Yes!" the girl said excitedly, as her mother's gingerly followed Kepner into the pen. "Dis big one here is Queen Bee, and the yellow one, we called her Young Yellah. And then the red one is call Red. I helped pick their names!"
"Those are really great names," April complimented brightly, as she began to walk the perimeter of the hen pen, carefully observing everything she saw, like an inspector. "You guys did a good job getting three. Chickens get lonely when they're by themselves..."
Callie and Arizona exchanged a confused glance as April approached the small chicken coop, and began running her fingers along the roof and walls.
"You guys picked a good coop, you know?" April commented lifting the coop roof slightly and peering in. "Good insulation, easy access for them to roost, but also convenient for you all to collect the eggs...this is a good coop."
"I help get da eggs!" Sofia exclaimed proudly, striding over to April's side.
"You do? What a big help you are! I used to help my mom and dad collect eggs too..." the red head's eyes narrowed and she leaned to one side, bracing her hands on the coop for balance. Callie took a step closer to April, just in case. The last thing they needed was for their pregnant friend to slip and fall.
Their daughter grinned, "It fun!"
To be honest, Sofia was probably the only one who still got excited about the chicken eggs. Callie and Arizona had underestimated just how many eggs three young hens could produce. Most of the extra spare space in their refrigerator was now taken up by eggs, eggs, and more eggs. The family meals felt omletted, deviled, and scrambled out. And it wasn't as easy or as picturesque as they imagined it would be to spend every morning (especially after an exhausting long night shift at the hospital) sticking your arm into a feather filled chicken coop, with agitated and spunky hens to gather up yet another batch of eggs.
"May I make a suggestion?" April asked turning around to face Callie and Arizona, and blinking in surprise when she realized that Callie was now directly behind her.
Arizona plastered a bemused smile on her face, "Uh, yeah! By all means."
"This coop," April explained confidently, gesturing to the structure behind her. "It's a good coop, but I think you guys should consider elevating it a little bit more. Maybe even move it more towards the middle of the pen instead of just one side. Give the hens another place to escape from potential predators. I think part of the reason they are feeling so stressed right now is because the inside of the coop is pretty much the only place they have to hide."
Callie, Arizona, April, and Sofia all turned to observe the agitated birds on the other side of the pen. The human's eyes narrowed making contact as best they could with the chicken's beady gazes. They did look pretty freaked out.
"See?" April said after moment. "They don't have that many places to take cover if they feel threatened and right now, we're blocking the only way into their coop. You guys can maybe raise the coop enough so they could hide underneath. And maybe add a few plants and shrubs in here that they could escape beneath too..."
Callie blinked, "Oh..."
"That makes a lot of sense, actually," Arizona agreed.
April nodded, "Really, all chicken's need is food, water, shelter, protection, and companionship."
And with that, April Kepner began explaining the proper care and raising of chickens to the Robbins-Torres family. From feeding tips, to ways of rearranging chicken wire, to sharing alternative recipes that involved eggs, it was clear to Callie and Arizona that April totally knew what she was talking about. they'd never seen Kepner in quite this way. She was as at home in a pen filled with clucking hens as she was in a crowded ER.
April seemed positively giddy.
And where their enthusiasm for their urban farming had been at a low at the beginning of the afternoon, Callie and Arizona couldn't help but feel more excited as the hours passed quickly during April's tutorial. By early evening, they'd raised the coop, moved it to a different location, added a longer chicken run, laid out a small plot for a future shrub garden, cleaned up the spilled feed as well as the poop, and rewired the whole pen.
"I hungry!" Sofia said plaintively, leaving the pen and running toward the backdoor. "Let's eat!"
"Hold on baby girl," Callie agreed, following her daughter quickly. "I'm right here with you. What do you think we should make?"
"Eggs Mommy! We gotta make eggs!"
With the slam of the back door, April and Arizona found themselves alone with the chickens. Young Yellah clucked.
"You're more than welcome to stay for dinner," Arizona offered cheerfully.
April nodded, and looked around the pen in pride, "You know, I haven't done any work like this in a while...not since I was a kid really-well, except for that summer after boards when I was fired and went back to Moline after the plane-"
She stopped short and watched Arizona awkwardly. It was a time that neither of them wanted to dwell on.
"I was pretty depressed then," Kepner explained quietly. "So...what I guess what I should say is: I haven't had this much fun doing farm work since I was a kid."
Arizona smiled and looked around the backyard, "I'd hardly call this a farm."
April grinned and bit her lip, "Can I tell you something?"
"Of course," she replied, wrapping an arm around her friend and squeezing it comfortingly.
"I've been thinking..."
"Shocker."
Chuckling April continued, "I've been thinking a lot about what I want to teach my child about life, you know? What parts of my childhood I can use to help them grow to be the best version of themselves they can be and-"
"I think you'll find that most expectant parents worry about those same kinds of questions," Arizona soothed.
"I know it's just...I never really realized how much of who I am, comes from where I came from, you know? From Moline and that farm. I learned compassion, dedication, discipline...so many things, just from what I had to do helping out as a kid..."
"Yeah," Arizona murmured letting her thoughts drift briefly to her own military upbringing. It was funny to consider just how much of who you are is influenced by the way you grow up and the parents that guide you.
"Jackson and I are so different. How we grew up? It's like practically two different worlds," April sighed, running her hands along the sides of her belly. "He can give the baby so much. Not just money stuff either. He's-people like him."
Arizona involuntarily pursed her lips.
Correction: Some people. But then, maybe she was being too harsh. April's husband rubbed her the wrong way professionally a lot of the time, but she couldn't say she knew him very well on a personal level. After all, April Kepner had left a man at the alter to run away with the plastic surgeon. In front of all her family and friends. April Kepner, one of the most self conscious people Arizona had ever known.
Perhaps the man had hidden depths.
"Jackson's not socially awkward. He's...normal, you know? Rational. And so much of the life we have right now...is like that. Like how he grew up, not like how I grew up. And I mean, that's probably for the best because I grew up to be neurotic, perfectionist, that people take years to actually like. So I worry sometimes. What do I really have to offer in all of this? The parts of me that might actually be useful for my child to emulate come from growing up on the farm."
"Oh, April. Don't worry so much. You are going to be a wonderful mother."
It was the truth. Whatever flaws Kepner had, Arizona knew first hand just how caring and thoughtful April could be. And she was already great with kids. Sofia always enjoyed any visits April made to the house, and neither Arizona or Callie would never forget how much care and special attention April the resident had given to tiny Sofia in the NICU after the car crash.
Blinking back tears April whispered, "Thank you."
"I know you will," Arizona pressed. "And you guys'll figure it out. Everyone does. You and Avery, you can do it. You want your kid to be kind, compassionate, and dedicated? I don't think you need a farm to do all of that..."
"Maybe not," April agreed, letting her eyes roam around the newly cleaned pen. "Maybe not a farm. But I think...I think we could have something like this. I mean, once the baby is older and we get a house and everything."
Laughing and throwing out her arms wide, Arizona exclaimed, "You probably could. Probably better than we can. Definitely better than we can."
They both chuckled, turning to walk out of the pen and back towards the house arm in arm.
"But you know," Arizona added, only half in jest. "You and Avery and baby are always more than welcome to come help out here whenever you want. Before you 'take the plunge' and go after your own urban farm."
Even with today's crash Kepner chicken tutorial, Arizona knew she and Callie could use the help.
April seemed to quite clearly see through Arizona's rouse, but played along anyway, "Oh yeah?"
"Absolutely."
Latching the gate behind them, she continued, "Plus you and Avery get to go home at the end. With a nice clean backyard or balcony or whatever it is you have. Leaving behind all the mess and all the poop."
Side by side they took the quick walk across the back yard to the kitchen door.
"Chickens poop," April replied matter of factly. "They poop everywhere. You're just gonna have to get used to it."
Holding the door open for her pregnant friend, Arizona shiver and made a face, "Ew."
April was already off on another ramble.
"Do you and Callie compost? Because if you don't you totally should. You can compost their poop. My Dad composts his chicken waste and not only is it great for the environment but it can also..."
Arizona grinned. Although urban farming had definitely turned out to be way more than they'd bargain for when they'd imagined a quaint homey little backyard chicken, it didn't seem quite so daunting anymore. As with most things, she supposed, it was easier with support.
Friends were the best possible natural resource you could have. And more than anything else, a good friend could help you remember the difference between having a house and making a home.